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Friday, March 30, 2007

I was memed by the Cubicle Reverend (yes, I know it should be the other way around. The Right Reverend Cubicle and his trusty sidekick, Deacon Desk Chair) to list seven songs I'm digging. But because I'm not particularly digging any songs right now (more going through my iPod and finding songs/records I like) and I'm constantly putting together random lists but never thematic ones:

"LDN" - Lily Allen - The debutante takes a walk around her little neighborhood and digs underneath the glossy visage to discover young men mugging old women, pimps beating their whores, etc., etc.

"Digging in the Dirt" - Peter Gabriel - "Digging in the dirt / find the places we got hurt."

"Chain Gang" - Sam Cooke - "All day long they're singing, ooh, ahh... Been working so hard." And clink and clack to underscore that. Honestly, I think the song's too pretty for such work, but it's got me and my coworkers through many a day of blue collar work back in the day.

"Dig/Dug" - Prayer Chain - I don't have this pre-Mercury album anymore. I'm not sure that's the title anymore. It was pretty much the chorus.

"Water No Get No Enemies" - Fela Kuti - I only assume he's talking about well water.

"I've Got You Under My Skin" - Frank Sinatra - Get 'em out!

So, who to tag? Of all my faithful readers, let's go for Micah (who's always compiling music lists), RC (who almost never talks about music), and - way over in MySpaceville, Timi.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

A couple bits in the free daily yesterday caught my eye. One is that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that homosexuality is immoral - akin to heterosexual adultery - and, therefore, homosexuals shouldn't be allowed in the U.S. military. This was in response to questions about the "Don't Ask / Don't Tell" policy.

A few questions: Is that to imply that anyone who has ever committed adultery should not be allowed in the U.S. military? Or would that be more of a 'grey area' (i.e., if the adulterous affair had stopped within a period of time, or was committed outside of the jurisdiction of the United States, or was done before the parties joined the Forces)? Or, rather, would the implication of adultery ("lust of the eyes") be enough to injunct the wrath of the U.S. Air Force?

But, better question (IMHO): Is the Head of the U.S. Armed Forces - which, in effect, teaches grown men to kill other grown men (and women, and children) - saying that gay people need not show up for the party? That those with a preference for their own gender (or a shared preference) should rightfully be ostracized?

I'm all for morals. But I kinda doubt that the morals of making a living by killing somehow trumps the rights of those who are identified by their sexuality.

The second article that made my eyes bug had to do with Viacom suing YouTube and parent megaCorporation Googe (caveat: Google runs Blogger and Blogspot, as well as my all-time favorite, gmail. So, I don't wanna say anything bad about sweet, sweet Google. Ha ha, Googe!) for running clips from its various networks including, most infamously - at least for me - Stephen Colbert. But this includes stuff from MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, BET, and CBS. I'm sure there's more, but who cares? (They also own Blockbuster, which shows you how generally clueless they are.) And they're suing them for 1,000,000,000 dollars!

But why, o Why, would you want to tear down free publicity?

I'm all against piracy. I'm sorry. I think it's stealing. So, unless the artist comes out and says, 'Get this however you get it' or whatever, I'd rather go through the proper channels and try to pay those who put in the work. But YouTube isn't piracy. It doesn't work (generally speaking) as blanket bootlegging. I could see if they posted entire hour-and-a-half long movies. Maybe. But the sound and visual quality's so bad that, if I could, I would prefer to get them through other, higher-def, channels. But Colbert/The Daily Show, etc., generally isn't available through those channels. And Colbert's earned his name and fame in a way unprecedented 10 years ago.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

But is that it? Is there anything really loco / chemically imbalanced / lunatic going on out there? Is there a chance that some off-the-wall school (not an Xavier. Say a Chicago State or a Bible school with under 1,000 students) gets into the Final Four? Is there an outside chance that a school that doesn't have money for full athletic scholarships will get seed money for these athlete-scholars?

Is there a chance that a school will get recognized not for ridiculing relatively-obscure cultures (meaning, anyone not of their own - read, pasty-White - culture - i.e., urban and Tribal-American), but for lifting every one of its athletes to a 3.0 GPA and a four-year goal plan for graduation?

Yeah, yeah, save the self-righteous rants for Sports Illustrated (which will still rank in millions while it defies the NCAA - while the rest of us bemoan the current system in our living rooms while succumbing to the Dick Vitale-inspired Fever on our large-screens). But, y'know, a man's gotta gripe about something.

And the lack of feasible drinking water for 1.1 billionpeople just doesn't seem within grasp for my little mind right now.